Friday was a bad day for Indian stock indices, with the Nifty and Sensex falling below critical levels of 17,000 (Nifty) and 57,050 (Sensex). After a cautious start, Indian equities continued to fall in early trade, owing to negative global signals and uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant.

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The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 2.42%, while the Small cap index was down by 2.07%. The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.32% and TECK up by 0.85%, while Realty down by 3.78%, Bankex down by 2.62%, Finance down by 2.56%, Energy down by 2.59%, and Auto down by 2.53% were the losing indices on BSE.

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The Nifty50 has formed a long bear candle on the daily chart, suggesting a sharp downward reversal after the bounce earlier this month, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

A coming couple of sessions will be crucial for the 50-scrip index, said Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives at Angel One. He said he won’t be surprised if the Nifty tests 16,500-16,200 levels, which is the best possible zone from where recovery can happen. The banking space is likely to dictate the short-term trend the way it is placed, he said.

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 16,868.34, followed by 16,751.47. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,200.13 and 17,415.07.

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Indian Indices

Sensex fell 889.40 points or 1.54% to 57,011.74 and the Nifty was down by 263.20 points or 1.53% to 16,985.20 in the previous session.  Sensex touched high and low of 58,062.28 and 56,950.98, respectively and there were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index while Nifty traded in a range of 17,298.15 and 16,966.45 and there were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.    

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 300-points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,016.00 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:30 hours IST.

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Asian Markets

Asian markets finished sharply lower on Friday with shares in Japan leading the region. The Nikkei 225 was down 1.79% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off 1.20% and China’s Shanghai Composite was lower by 1.16%.

US Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 532.20 points, or 1.5%, to 35,365.44 on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 1% for a second down day to 4,620.64. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended the session less than 0.1% lower at 15,169.68 after briefly trading in the green. At its session low, the Nasdaq dropped about 1.5%.

European Markets

European markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The FTSE 100 gained 0.13%, while the CAC 40 led the DAX lower. They fell 1.12% and 0.67% respectively.

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Shriram Properties shares to list on bourses on December 20

Shriram Properties shares are going to list on the exchanges on December 20. The shares of the company are trading at a premium of only Rs 15 in the grey market, as per IPO watch. This indicates a premium of 12 percent to the issue price of Rs 113-118 per share.

GACL and GAIL sign pact to set up Rs 1,000-crore bioethanol plant in Gujarat

Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd and GAIL India on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a 500 KLD bioethanol plant at an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore in Gujarat. The MoU was signed by the representatives of both the companies at Gandhinagar in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, a state government release said, adding that the plant would produce 500-kilo litres of bioethanol per day. Bioethanol is an alternative to fossil fuel used in vehicles and a form of renewable energy that can be produced from agricultural feedstocks through microbial fermentation.

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ICICI Bank raises Rs 5,000 crore through bond issuance

ICICI Bank has raised Rs 5,000 crore debt capital by issuing bonds on a private placement basis, the bank said on Friday. The board of directors of the bank had in April this year approved to raise funds by issuing debt securities. “Pursuant to the same, the bank has allotted 50,000 senior unsecured redeemable long term bonds in the nature of debentures aggregating to Rs 5,000 crore on private placement basis,” ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing. The bond allotment date is December 17, 2021, it said. The private sector lender said that the bonds are redeemable at the end of 10 years (redemption date December 17, 2031).

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Hindalco signs pact to acquire Hydro’s aluminium extrusions business in India

Hindalco Industries on Friday said it has signed a definitive agreement with Norway-based Hydro to acquire the latter’s India business of aluminium extrusions for an enterprise value of Rs 247 crore. The acquisition brings into the Hindalco fold, an integrated facility located at Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh, an experienced team of employees, and the ability to serve a robust portfolio of reputed customers, the company said in a statement.

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UK regulator fines HSBC for money laundering failings

Britain’s financial regulator on Friday handed a large fine to HSBC for failings in its anti-laundering procedures. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined the bank £63.95 million ($85 million, 75 million euros) after detecting serious weaknesses in three key areas of its monitoring systems. The FCA said HSBC had failed correctly to evaluate scenarios deployed in money laundering and terrorism financing between March 2010 and March 2018. FCA executive director Mark Steward said the failings were “unacceptable and exposed the bank and community to avoidable risks”.

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Bulk Deal data

Edelweiss Mutual Fund, Integrated Core Strategies Asia Pte Ltd, Rajasthan Global Securities Private Limited sold 6,82,110, 8,78,838, 9,35,105 equity shares in RateGain Travel and Technologies Limited at Rs 360.7, Rs 356.22, Rs 362.18 per share respectively on the NSE, as per the bulk deals data.

Goldman Sachs Funds – Goldman Sachs India Equity Portfolio bought 7,19,727 equity shares in RateGain Travel and Technologies Limited at Rs 361.71 per share on the NSE, as per bulk deals data.

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HDFC Mutual Fund in two separate instances bought 2,00,000 and 5,00,000 equity shares in Apar Industries Limited at Rs 748.8 and Rs 750 per share, while the Mutual Funds sold 6,73,639 equity shares in the company at Rs 750 apiece on the NSE, the bulk deals data showed.

Kalpataru Properties Private Limited sold 36,50,000 equity shares and Munot Mofatraj Pukhraj bought in Kalpataru Pow Trans Ltd at the same price of Rs 370 per share on the NSE, as per the bulk deals data showed.

The MD & chairman Shrenik Sudhirbhai Vimavala sold 50,00,000 equity shares in Shrenik Limited at Rs 2.2 per share on the NSE, the bulk deals data mentioned.

Mansi Shares & Stock Advisors Pvt Ltd sold 16,637 equity shares in Digiam Ltd at Rs 150.8 per share; Nanalal Bhanji Dudhaiya bought 54,000 equity shares in Debock Sale Marketing Ltd at Rs 123.87 per share on the NSE, bulk deals data showed.

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DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 2,069.90 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,478.52 crore in the Indian equity market on December 17, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

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NSE F&O Ban

Escorts, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and Vodafone Idea – are under the F&O ban for December 20. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.